Systems and methods of monitoring call quality

ABSTRACT

When a voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) telephone call is being conducted by a mobile telephony device, measurements of at least one condition that exists for the mobile telephone device during the VOIP telephone call are taken during the duration of the telephone call. The measurements could be taken periodically as the VOIP telephone call progresses. The measured condition is one that could affect the perceived quality of the VOIP telephone call. The measurements of the at least one condition are recorded against the telephone call for later use and analysis. The recorded information may be analyzed to determine how to modify a setting of the mobile telephony device to improve the quality of VOIP telephone calls conducted with the mobile telephony device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention is related to Internet protocol (IP) telephony systemsthat allow users to place and receive telephone calls, and to send andreceive text and video messages via data packets that are communicatedover a data network.

When a call is established between an IP telephony device and an IPtelephony system, the audio of the call is carried by data packets thattraverse a data network. The speed at which the data packets aredelivered, packet loss, jitter and various other data packettransmission statistics can affect the perceived call quality. For thisreason, methods of monitoring and tracking data packet transmissionstatistics have been devised.

By monitoring data packet transmission statistics, an IP telephonysystem can predict call quality. If an IP telephony system knows that afirst data transmission path does not typically have good data packettransmission statistics, which would indicate that call quality islikely to be poor, the IP telephony system can act to send data packetsvia an alternate path having better data packet transmission statistics.

More recently, IP telephony systems have been conducting IP basedtelephone calls with mobile telephony devices. The mobile telephonydevices could include cells phones, and mobile computing devices whichare capable of establishing a wireless data connection to a datanetwork. While the same data packet transmission problems can alsoaffect the quality of IP calls to such mobile telephony devices, themobile telephony devices also have other sources of call qualityproblems unrelated to data packet transmissions.

For example, the voltage level or strength of the battery in a mobiletelephony device can impact the perceived call quality. Likewise,background noise that is being picked up by the microphone of a mobiletelephony device can impact call quality. Similarly, the setting of amicrophone of a mobile telephony device can impact call quality.Further, if a mobile telephony device is communicating data packetsbearing the call via a data channel provided by a cellular serviceprovider, the signal strength of the cellular connection can impact callquality. Also, in some instances, the use of a hands-free speaker andmicrophone on a mobile device, which is now quite common, can impactcall quality.

Presently, there is no way for an IP telephony system to acquireinformation about these additional sources of call quality problems thatare encountered by mobile telephony devices. As a result, when acustomer complains about the quality of calls conducted over a mobiletelephony device, the customer service representatives of an IPtelephony system will not know if the perceived call quality problemswere the result of data packet transmission problems, or one of thesealternate sources of call quality problems. Further, because it isimpossible to collect information about these sources of call qualityproblems, it is difficult or impossible to provide useful advice to thecaller about how call quality could be improved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a communications environment including variouselements which are associated with an Internet protocol (IP) telephonysystem operating in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagram of various elements of a processor that forms partof an IP telephony system;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a call quality monitoring unit of an IPtelephony system; and

FIG. 4 is a diagram of steps of a method embodying the invention inwhich call quality information is collected and used to improve thequality of calls over an IP telephony system;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The following detailed description of preferred embodiments refers tothe accompanying drawings, which illustrate specific embodiments of theinvention. Other embodiments having different structures and operationsdo not depart from the scope of the present invention.

In the following description, the terms VOIP system, VOIP telephonysystem, IP system and IP telephony system are all intended to refer to asystem that connects callers and that delivers data, text and videocommunications using Internet protocol data communications.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, a communications environment is provided tofacilitate IP enhanced communications. An IP telephony system 120enables connection of telephone calls between its own customers andother parties via data communications that pass over a data network. Thedata network is commonly the Internet 110, although the IP telephonysystem may also make use of private data networks. The IP telephonysystem 120 is connected to the Internet 110. In addition, the IPtelephony system 120 is connected to a first publicly switched telephonenetwork (PSTN) 130 via a gateway 122. The first PSTN 130 may also bedirectly coupled to the Internet 110 through one of its own internalgateways. Thus, communications may pass back and forth between the firstIP telephony system 120 and the PSTN 130 through the Internet 110 via agateway maintained within the PSTN 130.

The gateway 122 allows users and devices that are connected to the PSTN130 to connect with users and devices that are reachable through the IPtelephony system 120, and vice versa. In some instances, the gateway 122would be a part of the IP telephony system 120. In other instances, thegateway 122 could be maintained by a third party.

Customers of the IP telephony system 120 can place and receive telephonecalls using an IP telephone 108 that is connected to the Internet 110.Such an IP telephone 108 could be connected to an Internet serviceprovider via a wired connection or via a wireless router. In someinstances, the IP telephone 108 could utilize the data channel of acellular telephone system to access the Internet 110.

Alternatively, a customer could utilize a normal analog telephone 102 awhich is connected to the Internet 110 via a telephone adapter 104. Thetelephone adapter 104 converts analog signals from the telephone 102 ainto data signals that pass over the Internet 110, and vice versa. Also,as illustrated in FIG. 1, multiple analog telephone devices 102 a, 102 band 102 c could all be coupled to the same telephone adaptor 104. Analogtelephone devices include but are not limited to standard telephones anddocument imaging devices such as facsimile machines. A configurationusing a telephone adapter 104 is common where all of the analogtelephone devices 102 a, 102 b and 102 c are located in a residence orbusiness, and all of the telephone devices are connected to the sametelephone adapter. With this type of a configuration, all of the analogtelephone devices 102 a, 102 b, 102 c share the same telephone numberassigned to the telephone adaptor 104. Other configurations are alsopossible where multiple communication lines (e.g., a second telephonenumber) are provisioned by the IP telephony system 120.

In addition, a customer could utilize a soft-phone client running on acomputer 106 to place and receive IP based telephone calls, and toaccess other IP telephony systems (not shown). In some instances, thesoft-phone client could be assigned its own telephone number. In otherinstances, the soft-phone client could be associated with a telephonenumber that is also assigned to an IP telephone 108, or to a telephoneadaptor 104 that is connected one or more analog telephones 102.

A third party using an analog telephone 132 which is connected to thePSTN 130 may call a customer of the IP telephony system 120. In thisinstance, the call is initially connected from the analog telephone 132to the PSTN 130, and then from the PSTN 130, through the gateway 122 tothe IP telephony system 120. The IP telephony system 120 would thenroute the call to the customer's IP telephony device. A third partyusing a cellular telephone 134 could also place a call to an IPtelephony system customer, and the connection would be established in asimilar manner, although the first link would involve communicationsbetween the cellular telephone 134 and a cellular telephone network. Forpurposes of this explanation, the cellular telephone network isconsidered part of the PSTN 130.

In addition, mobile computing devices which include cellular telephonecapabilities could also be used to place telephone calls to customers ofthe IP telephony system. A mobile computing device 136, as illustratedin FIG. 1, might connect to the PSTN 130 using its cellular telephonecapabilities. However, such devices might also have the ability toconnect to a data network, such as the Internet 110 wirelessly via someother means. For instance, a mobile computing device 136 mightcommunicate with a wireless data router to connect the mobile computingdevice 136 directly to a data network, such as the Internet 110. In thisinstance, communications between the mobile computing device 136 andother parties could be entirely carried by data communications whichpass from the mobile computing device 136 directly to a data network110. Of course, alternate embodiments could utilize any other form ofwireless communications path to enable communications.

Users of the IP telephony system 120 are able to access the service fromvirtually any location where they can connect to the Internet 110. Thus,a customer could register with an IP telephony system provider in theU.S., and that customer could then use an IP telephone 108 located in acountry outside the U.S. to access the services. Likewise, the customercould also utilize a computer outside the U.S. that is running asoft-phone client to access the IP telephony system 120.

FIG. 2 illustrates elements of a computer processor 150 that can be usedas part of the IP telephony system 120 to accomplish various functions.The IP telephony system 120 could include multiple processors 150located at various locations in the system, along with their operatingcomponents and programming, each carrying out a specific or dedicatedportion of the functions performed by the VOIP based telephony service120.

The processor 150 shown in FIG. 2 may be one of any form of a generalpurpose computer processor used in accessing an IP-based network, suchas a corporate intranet, the Internet or the like. The processor 150comprises a central processing unit (CPU) 152, a memory 154, and supportcircuits 156 for the CPU 152. The processor 150 also includes provisions158/160 for connecting the processor 150 to customer equipment and toservice provider agent equipment, as well as possibly one or moreinput/output devices (not shown) for accessing the processor and/orperforming ancillary or administrative functions related thereto. Theprovisions 158/160 are shown as separate bus structures in FIG. 2;however, they may alternately be a single bus structure withoutdegrading or otherwise changing the intended operability of theprocessor 150.

The memory 154 is coupled to the CPU 152. The memory 154, orcomputer-readable medium, may be one or more of readily available memorysuch as random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), floppy disk,hard disk, flash memory or any other form of digital storage, local orremote, and is preferably of non-volatile nature. The support circuits156 are coupled to the CPU 152 for supporting the processor in aconventional manner. These circuits include cache, power supplies, clockcircuits, input/output circuitry and subsystems, and the like.

A software routine 162, when executed by the CPU 152, causes theprocessor 150 to perform processes of the disclosed embodiments, and isgenerally stored in the memory 154. The software routine 162 may also bestored and/or executed by a second CPU (not shown) that is remotelylocated from the hardware being controlled by the CPU 152. Also, thesoftware routines could also be stored remotely from the CPU. Forexample, the software could be resident on servers and memory devicesthat are located remotely from the CPU, but which are accessible to theCPU via a data network connection.

The software routine 162, when executed by the CPU 152, transforms thegeneral purpose computer into a specific purpose computer that performsone or more functions of the IP telephony system 120. Although theprocesses of the disclosed embodiments may be discussed as beingimplemented as a software routine, some of the method steps that aredisclosed therein may be performed in hardware as well as by a processorrunning software. As such, the embodiments may be implemented insoftware as executed upon a computer system, in hardware as anapplication specific integrated circuit or other type of hardwareimplementation, or a combination of software and hardware. The softwareroutine 162 of the disclosed embodiments is capable of being executed onany computer operating system, and is capable of being performed usingany CPU architecture.

In the following description, references will be made to an “IPtelephony device.” This term is used to refer to any type of devicewhich is capable of interacting with an IP telephony system to completea telephone call. An IP telephony device could be an IP telephone, acomputer running IP telephony software, a telephone adapter which isitself connected to a normal analog telephone, or some other type ofdevice capable of communicating via data packets.

An IP telephony device could also be a cellular telephone or a portablecomputing device that runs a software application that enables thedevice to act as an IP telephone. Thus, a single device might be capableof operating as both a cellular telephone and an IP telephone. Thefollowing description also refers to mobile telephony devices. Mobiletelephony devices are mobile devices such as cell phones and mobilecomputing devices like the Apple iPhone™ that are capable ofestablishing a wireless data link to a data network so that an IPtelephone call can be conducted with the mobile telephony device viadata packets passing over the data network.

Moreover, certain devices that are not traditionally used as telephonydevices may act as telephony devices once they are configured withappropriate application software. Thus, some devices that would notnormally be considered telephony devices may become telephony devices orIP telephony devices once they are running appropriate software.

As explained above, the conditions experienced by a mobile telephonydevice that is conducting a VOIP telephone call can give rise to callquality problems independent of data packet transmission issues. Forexample, the battery strength or voltage that exists during a VOIPtelephone call could affect perceived call quality. If the strength ofthe battery is insufficient, or becomes insufficient during the durationof a call, call quality can suffer. The background noise level can alsocause perceived call quality problems, both for the user of the mobiletelephony device, and the party at the other end of the call. Similarly,a microphone setting of the mobile telephony device could impair callquality, particularly for the party at the other end of the call.

The signal strength of the wireless data connection that the mobiletelephony device has established could also affect perceived callquality. This could be the strength of a signal that exists between themobile telephony device and a wireless interface device that providesaccess to a data network, such as a WiFi or WiMax router. This couldalso be the strength of a signal that exists between the mobiletelephony device and a transceiver of a cellular service provider thatthe mobile telephony device is using to access a data network.

In many instances, a mobile telephony device offers a user the abilityto conduct a telephone call in a “hands-free” mode. This could includeusing a microphone and speaker on the mobile telephony device itself toconduct the call. In other instances, the mobile telephony device may bepaired to a separate microphone and speaker that is used to conduct thecall, either wirelessly or via a wired connection. If the user choosesto conduct the call using this type of hands-free functionality, callquality may be poor for the user himself, and/or for the party at theother end of the call.

In methods embodying the invention, information about the conditionsthat exist for a mobile telephony device during a VOIP telephone callare recorded against the call. This information can be used after thecall has ended to determine why call quality was poor for a particularcall. Also, this information can be analyzed during or after the call todetermine if it is possible to take some type of action to improve callquality.

In some instances, measurements of one or more conditions experienced bythe mobile telephony device are taken multiple times, periodically,during a call. The measurements themselves are then recorded along withan indication of the point in time that the measurements were made. Thisallows for a better or more detailed analysis of how measured conditionsaffected call quality.

When multiple measurements of one or more conditions are made during acall, the information can be analyzed and reported in multiple differentways. The measurements could be averaged to determine an average foreach type of measurement for a particular call. Alternatively, a timegraph could be created for a call to provide an indication of how aparticular condition varied during the call. Also, it would be possibleto calculate and report the maximum and minimum values for a conditionduring a particular call. Of course, other statistical analyses of thedata could also be conducted, as is known to those skilled in the art.

The measurements of conditions could be stored on the mobile telephonydevice itself. One or more software applications on the device itselfcould then make use of the recorded information to inform the user ofthe device about how to improve call quality, or how to take correctiveaction.

Alternatively, or in addition, the mobile device could report measuredconditions to a call quality monitoring unit of an IP telephony systemthat is setting up and conducting the VOIP calls over the mobiletelephony device. FIG. 3 illustrates one such call quality monitoringunit 300, which would be part of an IP telephony system 120, asillustrated in FIG. 1.

The call quality monitoring unit 300 includes a call quality metricsreceiving unit 302 which receives measurements of conditions that existfor a mobile telephony device during a VOIP telephone call. As notedabove, such measurements could be reported multiple times during atelephone call. Alternatively, a mobile telephony device might reportmultiple measurements taken during the duration of a VOIP telephone callonly after the call has been terminated.

The measurements of conditions during a VOIP telephone call are thenstored in a call quality metrics database 304. Each measurement or setof measurements for a particular call would be stored against that callin the database 304. In some embodiments, the measurements received bythe call quality metrics receiving unit 302 are recorded as part of thecall detail records (CDRs) that are generated for each call made throughthe IP telephony system. In other embodiments, a separate database ofthe received call quality measurements may be maintained by the callquality monitoring unit 300.

Some types of conditions that can be measured and reported by a mobiletelephony device will vary in format from device to device. For example,the battery strength of a mobile telephony device could be reported bythe device in different ways. One mobile telephony device could report anumber from one to ten that is indicative of the strength of thebattery. A second mobile telephony device would report the actualvoltage of the battery at any given point in time. Yet a third type ofmobile telephony device could report its battery strength as apercentage of the total talk time which is still available after a fullcharge.

Because different mobile telephony devices may report on the samecondition affecting call quality in different formats, the call qualitymonitoring unit 300 may include a normalizing unit 306. The normalizingunit 306 receives information about measurements taken for the same typeof condition from each of the various mobile telephony devices in theirrespective formats, and the normalizing unit generates correspondingmeasurement values under a common, normalized framework. Thus, thenormalizing unit 306 is responsible for creating normalized measurementvalues for measurements that are reported by a mobile telephony devicein a unique or unusual format.

When the normalizing unit 306 creates normalized measurements from thereported measurements, the normalized measurements would be stored inthe call quality metrics database 304. In some instances, both thereported measurement values and the normalized measurement values wouldbe stored. In other embodiments, only the normalized measurement valuesare stored.

The call quality monitoring unit 300 also includes a reporting unit 308.The reporting unit 308 is responsible for generating reports relating torecorded call quality metrics reported from mobile telephony devices.These reports may make it easier for quality correction personnel tospot trends, or to identify potential trouble. The reporting unit 308may also provide an interface that allows customer servicerepresentatives to search the call quality metrics database 304 forinformation relating to particular telephone calls so that the customerservice representatives can advise clients of why a particular calloffered poor quality.

For example, if a customer calls to complain about the quality of aparticular call, a customer service representative could access the callquality metrics database 304 to review the information that was recordedabout conditions that existed on the customer's mobile telephony deviceduring the call. This check could reveal that the battery of thecustomer's mobile telephony device was extremely low during the call,which would account for the poor call quality. Alternatively, thecustomer service representative might determine that the backgroundnoise that existed when the call was conducted was so high that callquality suffered. Other measurements reported by the mobile telephonydevice might also account for poor call quality. Because the customerservice representative has access to this information, the customerservice representative is able to advise the customer about steps thatcan be taken to improve call quality over the same mobile telephonydevice on future calls.

The call quality monitoring unit 300 also includes a call qualityintervention unit 310. The call quality intervention unit 310 acts toinform users and/or the IP telephony system 120 about steps that can betaken to improve call quality. Also, in some embodiments, the callquality intervention unit may act to automatically adjust a setting on amobile telephony device or aspects of the IP telephony system 120 toimprove call quality.

The call quality intervention unit 310 analyzes data in the call qualitymetrics database 304 to determine if it is possible to improve callquality for a particular mobile telephony device. For example, the callquality intervention unit 310 may review information recorded in thecall quality metrics database 304 for multiple calls placed over thesame mobile telephony device over an extended period of time. Afterreviewing the recorded data, the call quality intervention unit 310 maynote that whenever the mobile telephony device was used in a hands-freemode, call quality suffered. With this information, the call qualityintervention unit 310 would then send a message to the user of themobile telephony device to inform him of this fact and to recommend thatcalls not be conducted in hands-free mode if high call quality isdesired. The message might also recommend that the user check thedevice(s) being used to conduct hands-free calls to determine if thedevices are operating properly.

The call quality intervention unit 310 could conduct a large number ofdifferent analyses of the data stored in the call quality metricsdatabase 304 to provide a large number of different recommendations tothe user of a mobile telephony device about how to act to improve callquality. Also, the call quality intervention unit might provideinformation to the IP telephony system 120 about how to improve callquality for individual mobile telephony devices due to their particularcharacteristics. Similarly, the call quality intervention unit 310 mightprovide information to the IP telephony system 120 about how to betterinteract with a particular type of mobile telephony device, based on ananalysis of measurements provided by multiple ones of that type ofmobile telephony device.

In some instances, the call quality intervention unit 310 mayproactively act to improve call quality on a particular mobile telephonydevice. For example, if an analysis of reported data from one or morecalls conducted by a mobile telephony device indicates that the mobiletelephony device is using an improper microphone setting, the callquality intervention unit 310 may be capable of adjusting the microphonesetting of the mobile telephony device via communications with themobile telephony device. In some instances, the call qualityintervention unit 310 may ask for permission from the user before makingthe adjustment. In other instances, the change might be madeautomatically, without user intervention or approval.

In a similar fashion, the call quality intervention unit 310 may act toautomatically adjust how the IP telephony system 120 interacts with aparticular mobile telephony device, or a particular type of mobiletelephony device, in an attempt to improve call quality on thosedevices.

In the preceding discussion, it was assumed that the call qualitymonitoring unit 300 was a part of the IP telephony system 120. Inalternate embodiments, one or more software applications running on amobile telephony device may perform all or some of the functions of thecall quality monitoring unit 300. Thus, the call quality monitoring unit300 may be a part of the mobile telephony device itself.

FIG. 4 illustrates steps of a method embodying the invention. Thismethod could be performed by a call quality monitoring unit 300 that ispart of an IP telephony system 120. Alternatively, the method could beperformed by a software application running on a mobile telephonydevice.

The method begins in step S402, when call quality metrics information isperiodically recorded during a call. As explained above, the callquality information could relate to any one of multiple conditions thatare being experienced by a mobile telephony device during a VOIPtelephone call. A single measurement of a particular condition might beobtained. Alternatively, multiple measurements of the same conditioncould be taken periodically as a call proceeds. Further a single ormultiple measurements of multiple different conditions could be takenduring a call.

In step S404, measurements that require normalization are converted intonormalized measurement values. This step is optional.

In step S406, the recorded data is analyzed. The analysis step couldoccur while the call is progressing. Alternatively, the analysis stepcould occur only after a call has been completed. In some embodiments,the analysis may be performed in a batch format at various times. Also,in some instances, it may make sense to accumulate data about aparticular condition from a large number of calls before the data isanalyzed for trends.

In step S408, a decision is made, using the results of the analysisstep, to determine if it is possible to act to improve call quality onan individual device, or on a class of mobile telephony devices. If so,the method proceeds to step S410, and the desired action is taken. Asexplained above, this could include informing a user about how to act toimprove call quality on his mobile telephony device. This step couldalso include proactively making a change to the user's mobile telephonydevice or to the IP telephony system 120 to improve call quality.

In step S412 a check is performed to determine if the call has beenterminated by either party. If not, the method proceeds back to stepS402. If so, the method proceeds to step S414, and a final set of callquality metrics for the call are recorded. In instances where the methodis being performed by a call quality monitoring unit 300 of an IPtelephony system 120, this step could include recording measurementstaken during a telephone call in the call quality metrics database 304after the call is terminated. If the method is being performed by amobile telephony device, this step could include sending a full set ofmeasurements recorded during a call to a call quality monitoring unit300 after the call has been completed.

In the method described above, an analysis of condition measurements isperformed while a call is proceeding, and steps may be taken to improvecall quality while the call is still being conducted. In alternatemethods, the analysis and intervention to improve call quality might beconducted only after the call has been terminated.

In the foregoing examples, it was assumed that conditions experienced bya mobile telephony device during one or more VOIP telephone calls wouldbe reported to a call quality monitoring unit 300 of an IP telephonysystem 120. The call quality monitoring unit 300 would store themeasurements for each call in databases for later use and analysis. Thesame procedures could also be performed for telephony devices other thanmobile telephony devices. For example, the same procedures could be usedto record conditions that exist for IP telephones, mobile computingdevices with IP telephony software, analog telephones that act throughan IP telephony adaptor, and for other types of telephony devices. Anyof these telephony devices could report conditions that potentiallyaffect call quality, and this information could be stored against thetelephone calls for later use and analysis. Thus, the descriptions givenabove should not be taken as an indication that systems and methodsembodying the invention only apply to mobile telephony devices.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Asused herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify thepresence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, and/or groups thereof.

While the invention has been described in connection with what ispresently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment,it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to thedisclosed embodiment, but on the contrary, is intended to cover variousmodifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit andscope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method implemented using an informationprocessing device having one or more processors and for monitoring andreporting call quality metrics on a mobile telephony device, comprising:detecting, using the one or more processors, at least one conditionrelated to an operating state of a mobile telephony device while themobile telephony device conducts a voice over Internet protocol (VOIP)telephone call, wherein the at least one condition related to theoperating state of the mobile telephony device affects call quality;analyzing the detected at least one condition to determine if the callquality of VOIP telephone calls conducted over the mobile telephonydevice is improvable by taking a first type of action; and reporting thedetected at least one condition to an IP telephony system and reportinga result of the analysis to a user of the mobile telephony device. 2.The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one condition comprisesinformation about a strength or voltage level of a battery of the mobiletelephony device during the VOIP telephone call.
 3. The method of claim1, wherein the at least one condition comprises information about abackground noise level that was present for the mobile telephony deviceduring the VOIP telephone call.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the atleast one condition comprises information about a strength of a wirelessdata connection that the mobile telephony device used to conduct theVOIP telephone call.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the at least onecondition comprises information about a signal strength that existedbetween the mobile telephony device and a wireless interface that themobile telephony device used to access a data network during the VOIPtelephone call.
 6. The method of claim 4, wherein the at least onecondition comprises information about a signal strength that existedbetween the mobile telephony device and a transceiver of a cellularservice provider that the mobile telephone device used to communicatedata during the VOIP telephone call.
 7. The method of claim 1, whereinthe at least one condition comprises a microphone setting of the mobiletelephony device during the VOIP telephone call.
 8. The method of claim1, wherein the at least one condition comprises information aboutwhether a user conducted the VOIP telephone call using a hands-freefunction provided by the mobile telephony device.
 9. The method of claim1, wherein the detecting step comprises detecting the at least onecondition periodically during the VOIP telephone call.
 10. The method ofclaim 9, wherein the reporting step comprises reporting the at least onecondition to the IP telephony system periodically throughout a durationof the VOIP telephone call.
 11. The method of claim 9, wherein thereporting step comprises reporting a plurality of measurements of the atleast one condition that were taken during the VOIP telephone call tothe IP telephony system after the VOIP telephone call has beenterminated.
 12. A method implemented using an information processingdevice having one or more processors and for monitoring and reportingcall quality metrics on a mobile telephony device, comprising:detecting, using the one or more processors, at least one conditionrelated to an operating state of a mobile telephony device while themobile telephony device conducts a voice over Internet protocol (VOIP)telephone call, wherein the at least one condition related to theoperating state of the mobile telephony device affects call quality;analyzing the detected at least one condition to determine if the callquality of VOIP telephone calls conducted over the mobile telephonydevice is improvable by altering a first setting of the mobile telephonydevice; causing the first setting of the mobile telephony device to bealtered to improve the call quality of VOIP calls conducted over themobile telephony device; and reporting the detected at least onecondition to an IP telephony system.
 13. The method of claim 12, whereinthe causing step is conducted automatically, without user intervention.14. The method of claim 12, wherein the analyzing and causing steps areconducted while the VOIP telephone call is being conducted so that thecall quality of the VOIP telephone call can be improved during aduration of the VOIP telephone call.
 15. A system for monitoring andreporting call quality metrics on a mobile telephony device, comprising:means for detecting at least one condition related to an operating stateof a mobile telephony device while the mobile telephony device conductsa voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) telephone call, wherein the atleast one condition related to the operating state of the mobiletelephony device affects call quality; means for analyzing the detectedat least one condition to determine if the call quality of VOIPtelephone calls conducted over the mobile telephony device is improvableby taking a first type of action; and means for reporting the detectedat least one condition to an IP telephony system and reporting a resultof the analysis to a user of the mobile telephony device.
 16. A systemfor monitoring and reporting call quality metrics on a mobile telephonydevice, comprising: a detecting unit that detects at least one conditionrelated to an operating state of a mobile telephony device while themobile telephony device conducts a voice over Internet protocol (VOIP)telephone call, wherein the at least one condition related to theoperating state of the mobile telephony device affects call quality; ananalyzing unit that analyzes the detected at least one condition todetermine if the call quality of VOIP telephone calls conducted over themobile telephony device is improvable by taking a first type of action;and a reporting unit that reports the detected at least one condition toan IP telephony system, the reporting unit reports results of theanalysis to a user of the mobile telephony device.
 17. The system ofclaim 16, wherein the at least one condition comprises information abouta strength or voltage level of a battery of the mobile telephony deviceduring the VOIP telephone call.
 18. The system of claim 16, wherein theat least one condition comprises information about a background noiselevel that was present for the mobile telephony device during the VOIPtelephone call.
 19. The method of claim 16, wherein the at least onecondition comprises information about a strength of a wireless dataconnection that the mobile telephony device used to conduct the VOIPtelephone call.
 20. The system of claim 19, wherein the at least onecondition comprises information about a signal strength that existedbetween the mobile telephony device and a wireless interface that themobile telephony device used to access a data network during the VOIPtelephone call.
 21. The system of claim 19, wherein the at least onecondition comprises information about a signal strength that existedbetween the mobile telephony device and a transceiver of a cellularservice provider that the mobile telephone device used to communicatedata during the VOIP telephone call.
 22. The system of claim 16, whereinthe at least one condition comprises a microphone setting of the mobiletelephony device during the VOIP telephone call.
 23. The system of claim16, wherein the at least one condition comprises information aboutwhether a user conducted the VOIP telephone call using a hands-freefunction provided by the mobile telephony device.
 24. The system ofclaim 16, wherein the detecting unit detects the at least one conditionperiodically during the VOIP telephone call.
 25. The system of claim 24,wherein the reporting unit reports the at least one condition to the IPtelephony system periodically throughout a duration of the VOIPtelephone call.
 26. The system of claim 24, wherein the reporting unitreports a plurality of measurements of the at least one condition thatwere taken during the VOIP telephone call to the IP telephony systemafter the VOIP telephone call has been terminated.
 27. A system formonitoring and reporting call quality metrics on a mobile telephonydevice, comprising: a detecting unit that detects at least one conditionrelated to an operating state of a mobile telephony device while themobile telephony device conducts a voice over Internet protocol (VOIP)telephone call, wherein the at least one condition related to theoperating state of the mobile telephony device affects call quality; ananalyzing unit that analyzes the detected at least one condition todetermine if the call quality of VOIP telephone calls conducted over themobile telephony device is improvable by altering a first setting of themobile telephony device; a setting unit that causes the first setting ofthe mobile telephony device to be altered to improve the quality of VOIPcalls conducted over the mobile telephony device; and a reporting unitthat reports the detected at least one condition to an IP telephonysystem.